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January 9, 2019

Winter Warming Reds Part I

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on January 9, 2019 by Lorcan O'Brien.

After the hectic festive period January offers the welcome opportunity to curl up in front of a roaring fire with a plate of your favourite winter fare and share a good bottle of red wine with loved ones. This is the perfect opportunity to take a look at our Winter Reds selection that launched this week. Our Wine Director, Lynne Coyle MW, has carefully selected 10 exciting winter warming red wines from around the world that are on special promotion: Buy One Get the Second Half Price*. In this post I will will look at five of the better-known regions and styles from the range, including two vegan options for those of us doing Veganuary.

Winter Reds- Buy One Get One Half Price

Vegan Italian Wine

For those of us going vegan to try and make up for the excesses of Christmas, this Puglia wine is Vegan. Coming from the warm heel of southern Italy thi smodern family-run winery offers excellent value for money.

A blend of Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera it is a gorgeous, richly textured red wine with an abundance of ripe fruit; cherry, blackcurrant, blueberry and blackberry along with hints of nutmeg and cocoa. The plush velvety fruit is underpinned by savoury notes from the touch of oak, refreshing acidity and a firm but ripe tannin profile.

Vegetarian & Vegan Food Match: The minimal use of oak and bright acidity would lend wonderfully to a rich bowl of tomato-based pasta full of winter vegetables. Choose vegan pasta or spirallised courgette to make this a vegan dish.

Vegan Barossa Blend

This unusual blend from South Australia's Barossa Valley is inspired, bringing out the best of these complimentary grapes. Bright red fruits and supple tannins from the Shiraz and generous juicy raspberry flavours of the Grenache are married to the rose petal and floral spice aromatics from the Portuguese grape variety, Touriga Nacional. To keep the fresh primary characteristics of the grapes this wine is not aged in oak, but allowed to mellow in stainless steel tanks.

Meat Food Match: The BBQ is not just for the summer months, so take off that winter cover and cook up some Texas-style spare ribs. The sweet and spiced meat will pair wonderfully with this wine.

Vegan Food Match: The BBQ is not just great for grilling meat, but works equally well for whole vegetables. Grilled whole peppers, Jamaican jerk grilled aubergine and black bean burgers all work very well on the BBQ.

Silky Winter Syrah

This is a well-made red from the João Portugal Ramos winery. Local Portuguese grape varieties add some interesting nuances to the silky dark ripe fruit and spice notes from the Syrah. Ripe red-berry fruit undercut with a touch of pepper, the palate is smooth with firm tannin and a full body, displaying all the charms that makes southern Portuguese reds so easy to love.

Food Match: With the bold fruits and touch of peppery spice in this wine, roast beef with a red wine and peppercorn jus would be the perfect match. For a vegetarian option stffed grilled peppers would make a delicious winter warming combination.

Rich Argentine Malbec

Mendoza Malbec is one of the most popular stlyes of wine in Ireland at the moment. With a modern label inspired by the street art of Buenos Aires, this unoaked example has plenty of fresh bramble fruit and plum flavours, good fresh acidity and a smooth finish.

Food Match: The classic match for Argentinian Malbec is steak and this would be ideal for a hung sirloin cut. The bright fresh acidity and smooth tannin profile is the perfect answer to cut through the fat of the meat.

Winter Warming Malbec

Although much of Malbec's surge in popularity is focused on the wines coming out of Argentina, the grape's spiritual home is the southwest of France. This example from the Languedoc comes from one of our top winemakers, Gérard Bertrand, and is jam-packed with flavours of ripe bramble fruit, cocoa and dark plum, all wrapped in a silk-smooth mouthfeel. A very approachable style of Malbec.

Food Match: In Argentina the staple match for Malbec is a good steak. The softer tannin profile of this wine would tempt me towards the fillet cut.